List Of Deadly Military Plane Crashes In India In Recent Years

Earlier last week, the Central government informed the Parliament that seven IAF aircraft have crashed in the last two years.

The military chopper crash site near Coonoor.

New Delhi: The crash of an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper carrying Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat in the Nilgiris near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu once again brings to the fore the grave issue surrounding military aircraft accidents in India that have led to several fatalities in recent years.

Earlier last week, the Central government informed the Parliament that seven IAF aircraft have crashed in the last two years.

“A total of seven aircraft of Air Force have crashed in the last two years, including the Mirage 2000 which crashed recently in Madhya Pradesh,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in the Lok Sabha.

“The steps taken by the government to avoid such incidents in the future include invigoration of aerospace safety organisation, maintaining a database of accidents and incidents, improving training methodology and increased use of simulators,” he added.

Earlier in July 2019, then Minister of State for Defence, Shripad Naik, presented the data from 2014 to 2019 in the Parliament.

He informed that there have been more than 10 accidents every alternate year in five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19, adding 46 personnel were in total killed in defence air crashes from 2014-15 to July 2019.

Below is the list of deadly military plane crashes in India:

• A Mirage 2000 aircraft of the IAF on a training sortie crashed in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district on October 21, 2021.
• A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the IAF crashed during a training mission in Rajasthan’s Barmer on August 25, 2021.
• An IAF pilot was killed in a MiG-21 aircraft crash in Punjab’s Moga district on May 20, 2021.
• A group captain of the IAF was killed in an accident involving a Mig-21 Bison aircraft in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on March 17, 2021.
• A MiG 21 Bison aircraft crashed while landing in Rajasthan’s Suratgarh on January 5, 2021.
• Earlier in February 2019, two aircraft of IAF's aerobatic team Surya Kiran crashed after hitting each other mid-air, killing a pilot and injuring two who ejected to safety during a rehearsal for the Aero India show.
• Earlier in October 2017, at least seven people died when an Indian Air force chopper crashed during a training sortie near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Earlier in December 2015, 10 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed when a paramilitary plane carrying them crashed near the Delhi airport